Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 25, 2015

Mar. 19, 2015

Art collection of early movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, including paintings by Picasso and Matisse, will be offered in nine sales by Sotheby's in New York. MORE

Mar. 16, 2015

Christie's sale of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth's private art collection, one of finest private collections of Asian art in West with presale estimate of $35 million, is highlight of annual Asia Week in New York. MORE

Mar. 8, 2015

Artwork sold at Christie's auction in 2013, thought to be copy of work by 19th-century painter John Constable and sold for around $5,200, is reassessed as original work and later sold at Sotheby's auction for $5.2 million; startling jump in price and continuing question of provenance offers glimpse into often imprecise field of identifying authorship of artworks. MORE

Feb. 28, 2015

Nobel medal awarded in 1971 to economist Simon Kuznets sells at auction by Nate D Sanders Auctions for $390,848; is first medal from field of economics ever sold. MORE

Feb. 25, 2015

Upcoming auction of Nobel prize won by economist Simon Kuznets in 1971 highlights difficulty of pricing an object with little market history; only handful of Nobel prizes have been auctioned in the past, with prices ranging from the low five figures to the millions; opening bid for Kuznets's medal will be $150,000, though it remains unclear whether his accomplishments are well-known enough to fetch a high price. MORE

Feb. 24, 2015

Bloomsbury Auctions in London will sell off over 1,100 original photographs from early age of space exploration; sale is expected to bring $750,00 to $1 million. MORE

Feb. 21, 2015

Indian Prime Min Narendra Modi sells over 450 gifts he has received while in office, including controversial pinstriped suit he wore to meed Pres Barack Obama, in auction to benefit campaign to clean Ganges River. MORE

Feb. 20, 2015

Jim Irsay, owner and chief executive of the Indianapolis Colts, purchases Les Paul guitar known as Black Beauty that helped usher in era of electronic guitars at Guernsey's auction in Manhattan for $335,500. MORE

Feb. 16, 2015

Notes and manuscripts to enigmatic Don McLean song American Pie will be auctioned at Christie's in April. MORE

Feb. 13, 2015

Scott Reyburn Inside Art column; art market bubble shows no signs of bursting as contemporary works at Sotheby's and Christie's London auctions bring high prices from bidders around world. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

Guernsey's prepares to auction Black Beauty, early prototype of Les Paul's seminal electric guitar model; guitar could fetch as much as $2 million. MORE

Jan. 19, 2015

British judge finds that auction house Sotheby's was not negligent in selling Caravaggio painting The Cardsharps for 42,000 pounds when it was worth 10 million pounds. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

Many auction houses, like Sotheby's and Christie's, return to practice of offering guarantees to clients wanting to sell their art, despite financial risk that has burned them in the past; experts note that competition is key driver of shift as houses are engaged in fierce competition for high quality works. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

Auction preview of furniture and photography created by Shiro Kuramata and Hiroshi Sugimoto, respectively, is on view at Wright's New York gallery. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Museums Association in Britain tightens code of ethics and imposes tougher sanctions in hopes of discouraging struggling museums from selling off antiquities. MORE

Dec. 21, 2014

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers questions about whether to divulge one's sex on job application, bidding in real estate auction and whether to alert company to fact that employee is watching pornography at work. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

Contents of Caribou Ranch in Boulder, Colo, once a haven for rock stars to produce records or just hang out, will be auctioned off on Jan 24; ranch was sold earlier in 2014. MORE

Dec. 17, 2014

Aalsmeer Journal; auction system for flowers centered in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, is in midst of upheaval due to changes in global transportation network and growth of presales and direct shipping. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Universities are marketing packages for sports fans allowing them to connect directly with players and teams; winning bidders of online auctions in 2014 have watched games from press box, sat behind team bench or stood just outside end zone for final minutes of football games. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

Q&A with vintage computer enthusiast Corey Cohen in which he discusses how he became go-to specialist for assessing vintage computers for auction houses and collectors; describes how he places value on old machines; Christie's auction house has called in Cohen to examine 'Ricketts' Apple-1 computer for auction. MORE

Dec. 10, 2014

Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Alisher Usmanov reveals himself to be anonymous telephone bidder who paid $4.1 million for James D Watson’s 1962 Nobel Prize at Christie's auction; says he will return medal to Watson. MORE

Dec. 8, 2014

Honus Wagner baseball card from 1909 sells for $403,664 at auction in Laguna Niguel, Calif. MORE

Dec. 7, 2014

Rare works from the private collection of Antoine Terrasse, Bonnard’s great nephew, are heading to auction. MORE

Dec. 5, 2014

James D Watson's 1962 Nobel Prize medal sells for $4.1 million at Christie's auction in Manhattan; Watson shared award for discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, and has pledged to donate much of the proceeds to educational institutions that had nurtured him. MORE

Dec. 4, 2014

Sotheby's sale of Rachel Lambert Mellon's furnishings is typical of estate auctions, which give intimate look at lives of wealthy and famous people. MORE

Nov. 27, 2014

Chinese collector Liu Yiqian sets record for Chinese artwork at international auction, paying $45 million at Christie's for Ming dynasty silk wall hanging. MORE

Nov. 25, 2014

Piano used in film Casablanca sells at Bonhams auction house in Manhattan for $3.4 million; other pieces of movies memorabilia are also sold, including the Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard of Oz, which sold for $3.077 million. MORE

Nov. 24, 2014

Federal Communications Commission auction of airwaves for use in mobile broadband becomes biggest auction in agency's history, reaching more than $34 billion and far surpassing presale expectations; auction is signal that wireless companies expect demand for Internet access by smartphones to continue to soar. MORE

Nov. 22, 2014

Sotheby's sale of interior decor items from estate of heiress Rachel Lambert Mellon gives visitors distinct impression of her character and style. MORE

Nov. 20, 2014

Thousands of objects from private collection of philanthropist Rachel Lambert Mellon, who died in March, are being auctioned by Sotheby's; objects reflect Mellon's taste for refined simplicity. MORE

Nov. 20, 2014

Entrepreneur Alexandre Lemaire of Mexico City is auctioning 150 lots from his Eye Collection, which features 3,000 examples of art and design, on website Paddle8. MORE

Nov. 17, 2014

Items from collection of Napoleon's belongings are sold at auction near Paris, including hat that brings about $2.4 million; rising prices are making it difficult for French museums to compete in bidding for memorabilia. MORE

Nov. 16, 2014

Art adviser Jeffrey Deitch, one of the earliest practitioners of the craft in New York City, is now back in the city, once again a stealth figure on the art auction scene; he is renewing relationships with some of his former clients, and his latest book, Live the Art, has been released. MORE

Nov. 14, 2014

Contemporary art auction at Phillips brings only $52 million, small sum compared to record sales by Christie's and Sotheby's this season. MORE

Nov. 13, 2014

Nov. 12, 2014

High-profile contemporary art auctions begin with disappointing sale at Sotheby's, though small Jasper Johns Flag painting from 1983 sells for $36 million, well above estimate. MORE

Nov. 11, 2014

Sotheby's auction of philanthropist Rachel Lambert Mellon's artwork spanning 400 years attracts bidders from 32 countries and four continents and brings $158.7 million, topping a high estimate of $121 million; one star artwork is 1970 abstract canvas by Mark Rothko of intense blues and greens that brought nearly $40 million. MORE

Nov. 10, 2014

Original illustration from A A Milne’s 1928 book The House at Pooh Corner will be sold at Sotheby’s London; is expected to bring at least 100,000 British pounds, or roughly $159,000. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

Christie's holds surprisingly competitive auction, as six bidders seek to purchase portrait by Manet; painting, called Le Printemps, is purchased by Otto Naumann on behalf of the J Paul Getty Museum for $65.1 million, well above asking high estimate of $35 million. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

Auction houses and smaller organizations are striving to reach art buyers online, but price ceiling remains extremely low compared to live auctions; online sales accounted for only 1 percent of total revenue at top-tier auction houses in 2013; lack of trust remains a significant factor for buyers at the million-dollar level and above. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Sotheby's auction of Impressionist and Modern art brings in $422.1 million, highest total ever, thanks to $101 million sale of Giacometti sculpture Chariot. MORE

Oct. 30, 2014

Alexander Gilkes, 35-year-old Briton who founded art auction website Paddle8, has quickly become fixture of New York party scene and member of Vanity Fair's Best Dressed List. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

Venerable auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's are investing in e-commerce as way to attract new clients and tap into market they had previously ignored; John Auerbach of Christie's answers questions about their new online ventures. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

There is a growing interest in auctions of single-owner collections; auction representatives explain that buyers not only get art, but a piece of history attributable to the collector. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

Vintage travel posters are bringing high prices at auction this season. MORE

Oct. 25, 2014

Sotheby's and Christie's will each auction Egon Schiele works that were looted by Nazis from collection of Fritz Grunbaum, who died in concentration camp; Christie's sale is in conjunction with restitution agreement that compensates Grunbaum’s heirs, while Sotheby's sale relies on rulings by United States federal courts saying that family waited too long to file claim and that there was insufficient evidence that painting had been stolen. MORE

Oct. 16, 2014

Wright auction house in Chicago will offer 120 early 1960s photographs of men in women's clothing from collection of Robert Swope and Michael Hurst. MORE

Oct. 2, 2014

Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and satellite provider Dish Network plan to bid in Federal Communications Commission's November auction of airwaves. MORE

Sep. 27, 2014

Railroads on Parade, tourist attraction in Pottersville, NY, that features several model railroad exhibits, will be sold in online auction on Nov 11; owners Clarke and Barbara Dunham, and their partner, John Couri, hope a wealthy patron will buy the model trains and keep them intact. MORE